As Pres. Boakai Promised During His SONA Address Nearly A Year Ago
By Kelvin Gonlah
Monrovia–In the quest to expand Liberia’s economy growth through digitalization, the government has trained 10, 000 youths across Liberia with basic skills in Information Communication Technology, ICT, as officials say this is edging a significant fulfilment of President Boakai’s first State of the nation promise of empowering young people with basic skills in digital technology.
The training lasted over five months under the auspices of the Liberia Digital Transformation Training Program, LDTP.
“The digital program is more than a training; we envisage to train over half million Liberians across the 15 Counties,” Says Mr. Abdullah Kamara, Chairman of the Liberia Digital Training, Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA) acting Board Chairman.
“The ministry of Education (MOE) and the Liberia Telecommunications Authority LTA have already started working to implement Digital Skills Training in the national curriculum to teach high school students in Liberia which will also train 45,000 Liberian youths in similar program,” he added.
Mr. Kamara, in an overview statement of the LDTP awards ceremony, commended President Boakai for reposing confidence in the team to effectively execute the digital training program across the 15 counties. He said the knowledge shared with the young people will help accelerate youth transformation and make them productive citizens.
“When President Boakai made a promise to train over 10,000 young people across the 15th counties, most people did not believe that this could be achieved. I’m happy to hear from the evaluation team and also the monitoring team for those who covered the training both face-to-face and online. I’m also happy to get feedback from the monitoring team for some of those challenges they had during the training and also from our partners that helped us to execute this program,” Mr. Kamara asserted.
Also speaking, the Deputy Minister for Budget Planning at the Ministry of Finance Mrs. Tanneh Brunson said the achievement represents not only the training of Liberian youths but also the collective efforts of partners, mentors and every individual involved with the realization of the program.
“We are laying the foundation for our entire nation, these young people are the beacon of hope and the quest to take on the challenges in the digital economy,” she stated, adding, “The digital transformation program was designed with a golden mind to foster economic growth and create sustainable opportunity for the youth and equipping them with new skills such as digital marketing, cyber security and others, not just a piece of paper, but with the symbol of high work,” Deputy Minister Brunson continued.
In an official remark on behalf President Boakai, Minister of State without Portfolio and special services, Samuel Steveqouah lauded the implementing partners for the success completion of the president’s promise. He said the success of the LDTP demonstrates the power of vision and commitment and collective efforts, as championed by the ruling Unity Party flagbearer.
“The effort that bring us together here today was fuelled by the government and headed by the steering committee and was strongly supported by the members of the board of the LTA in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication; your work has set a pace, a first brick in the foundation of digital transformation in Liberia”, Minister Stevequoah asserted.
“My young people of Liberia, this is not where our vision end, IT serves as a powerful tool for economic development, IT also serves in providing young people with special skills that enhance their equalibility and foster entrepreneurship. I incorporate in teaching IT in school curriculum, developing country like Liberia, the potential of our young people in preparing them for work force, increasingly reliant on Digital competency. To ensure that this transformation touches every corner of our country, and to increase ICT job creation in every part of the Liberian society”, he mentioned.
“I, president of this country issuing the following mandate: •inclusion of digital skills in high school Curriculum, the ministry of Education is hereby mandated to work closely with the digital transformation project and our development partners to integrate ICT and digital training in high school program •the extension of ICT center nationwide the LTA, LCT, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication are hereby mandate to prioritize the establishment of ICT center in every part of this country •Collaboration and coordination across government. Ministries, Agencies and Commissions are mandated to work in harmony with the digital transformation team and the office of the Chief information officers at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication to enhance collaboration and coordination across government. •Strengthening the National Idenfication Registry. The National Identification Registry and Digital project are to work together to establish a robust identity management Data base; manage by those who have participated in this training”.
Minister Stevequoah, while reminiscing the benefits of ICT to nation growth, encouraged the young people to be resilient and use the knowledge acquired under the LDTP to contribute meaningfully to the development of their communities, and Liberia at large.
The official awards and certification ceremony of the LDTP was held at the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, with similar exercises held at different venues across the country.